UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones was one of the thousands of people attending UFC on FOX 5 this past weekend and took so time to catch up with cameras, addressing a number of questions including those surrounding his time on TUF 17 with Chael Sonnen, how his injured arm is doing, and, of course, his interest in an eventual shot at solving the mystery of Anderson Silva.

Though Jones and Sonnen have taken cracks at each other online and in other media appearances, “Bones” was actually quite cordial when asked how his time with the polarizing pugilist compared to the opinion he had of his future opponent before linking up on the Ultimate Fighter.

“I think I have a little bit more respect for him after spending six weeks with the guy. He’s definitely not as bad a character as I thought,” said Jones in an interview with Fuel TV. “He’s a pretty decent person when he’s not trying to promote a fight. His antics can be a little overboard but him as a person, he’s not too bad.”

When it comes to their eventual match-up in late April, Jones made it clear his health won’t be an issue after the amount of time between the bout and his initial injury. The 25-year old suffered some damage to the limb at UFC 152 when Vitor Belfort nearly sealed the deal with an early Armbar.

“I feel good. My elbow is healing up pretty good. I’m feeling strong. I fought through it for the Vitor fight and I’m sure I’ll fight through it if it gives me anymore problems,” stated Jones, shrugging off the affliction’s impact.

Jones was also asked to address the possibility of a fight with Silva, an explosive icon who has yet to taste defeat in the Octagon considered to be the best of all time. The 17-1 New Yorker kept things in the same ballpark as his most recent comments on the potential match-up as far as vague openness to the notion.

“My door’s not really open for the fight to be honest with you but who knows what the future holds,” replied Jones. “I’m happy where I’m at, bottom line. I have a good program and if it’s not broke then don’t fix it. But if Anderson moves up to light heavyweight and challenges me for my belt, that’s a different scenario.”

You guys know that outside of the Damien Maia fight, Chael has only lost to Divisional Champions right? In 6 years he’s only lost to Paulo Filo (#1 or #2 ranked MW at the time) Damien Maia (top 10 at the time) and Anderson Silva (#1 ranked fighter of all time). Chael would give Rampage fits, Forrest fits,and Bader fits. He would give Lil Nog a tough time, Rashad and Phil Davis a tough time, hell he might even be able to smother Shogun for 5 rounds. Even if he doesn’t win the belt this time, he’s still good enough to stay top 10 and potentially get another shot.

The real question is, does he want to stay in the cage if he’s not fighting for the title? Is he comfortable with being a top 10 fighter that may not get a shot at the belt but makes good money in co headliners? I don’t think he will be, so I agree with AO in that he will go into broadcasting full time.

JBJ (and everyone else) has to know that Chael’s antics are just an act in order to drum up hype and create opportunities for himself. He’s a WWE character competing in MMA. Once Chael landed the spot on TUF and was gifted a LHW title fight, there’s little motivation for him to further antagonize Jones. His work is mostly done, and now he just rides it out & collects another fat check. BUT… Jones isn’t supposed to come out and insinuate that Chael isn’t such a bad guy, thus extinguishing the drama and usual Chael hype that gets people riled up. Jones should keep that under wraps, cuz it’s not gonna help sell PPVs, and Chael might have to turn up the antics once again.

As for Chael, MCM & I have been thru this numerous times. My point of view is that he’s a very good but unspectacular fighter. Since losing to Maia, look at who he’s actually beat. The signature win of his career is Yushin Okami. His narrow decision victory against Bisping who was fighting on short notice probably ranks #2 on his resume, in terms of quality of opponent. Filho was already a drug addicted mess whose head was not in the fight game by the time Chael beat him, and Marquardt was on his way down before having to start over at a lower weight class. Agree or diagree with my point of view on those things, the numbers speak for themselves — of the guys Chael has beat since losing to Maia, they’ve fought 20 times (collectively) since Chael beat them and posted a 12-8 record. Decent results, but not exactly guys staking a claim to a title shot… with the exception of Bisping, who many felt deserved the nod over Chael in their fight anyway.

Chael has done very well for himself. As I mentioned, he’s a very good fighter… who’s managed to further elevate his status in the sport by being loud & obnoxious. His earnings from his 3 title fights will certainly have topped 7 figures. If Chael’s vocal chords didn’t work, he’d be more like Tim Boetsch. Nothing wrong with that, but far fewer opportunities in today’s UFC. Once he loses to Jones, I think it’ll wrap up his fight career.

I was looking at it like ok so he is moving to LHW and his first fight is for the strap… where do you go from there… yes obviously he has plenty of fights but it’s just puzzling to wind up fighting perennial contenders because your first fight back in the division was a loss to the champ, so now you just fight other guys who couldn’t beat the champ.

I agree with the end of Richard’s first paragraph. I think DW/UFC right now is stewing after Jones comes out and says oh he’s not a bad guy, I actually kinda like him, he just puts on an act and stuff. Well now most people who watch TUF are going to know that what trash talk there is, is just Chael acting and joking around, that there’s not legit bad blood like they would try and spin.

Although, I guess I said pretty much the same thing leading up to the 2nd Silva fight. I figured once Chael lost to Silva and collected a big paycheck, he wouldn’t bother trying to work his way back thru the MW contender mix, and I didn’t imagine he’d try to do the same at LHW. Turns out, he didn’t need to.

Jones’ comments about Chael not being such a big meanie after all might just be a bit of gamesmanship on Jones’ part. Chael certainly seems to embrace the villain role, and gets a kick out of getting under guys’ skin like Silva and JBJ, knows it helps sell fights & bring in more $$, and probably even thinks it gives him a potential competitive edge if he can get into Jones’ head. So as a reverse psychologly tactic, Jones comes out playing nice towards Chael.

Richard: “….and Marquardt was on his way down before having to start over at a lower weight class.”

Are you serious!? Nate the Great was a top 3 MW when he lost to Chael. He then went on to TKO Palhares before fighting Yushin in a #1 contenders match. Then he beat Dan Miller at MW before making the SHOCKING announcement that he was going to drop to WW. Just because you tell yourself Marquardt wasn’t top 3 when Chael beat him and stayed top 5 until he dropped to WW doesn’t make it so.

As for your comments about Jones pulling the whole “reverse psychology” thing on Chael…….hmmm? You might be onto something there.